Star India Batter Opts Out Of England Stint Citing Personal Reasons
Star India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has withdrawn from Yorkshire's County Championship campaign for personal reasons.
Star India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has pulled out of the County Championship deal with Yorkshire, whom he was supposed to join for the final phase of the prestigious red-ball competition in England.
Gaikwad had agreed to a five-match deal, beginning with the match against defending champions Surrey at Scarborough from July 22. But in a short statement, the team confirmed that he wouldn't be playing for Yorkshire for personal reasons.
Gaikwad, who leads the Chennai Super Kings in IPL and Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy, has played six ODIs and 23 T20Is for India. But he just managed five matches in IPL 2025 as he suffered an elbow injury.
'Unfortunately, Gaikwad's not coming now for personal reasons. We're not going to have him for Scarborough or the rest of the season. So that's disappointing. I can't tell you anything about the reasons why, but we hope that everything's ok," Yorkshire coach Anthony McGrath said.
Gaikwad was named in the India A team for their two games with the England Lions earlier this year, but didn't feature in either.
Gaikwad led Chennai in their first five matches, of which they lost four, before an elbow injury ruled him out of the season, with former India captain MS Dhoni taking over as skipper.
Gaikwad suffered the injury during Chennai's game against the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Sunday, March 30.
Gaikwad was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to pacer Tushar Deshpande and missing the delivery in the second over of Chennai's unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that match.
Gaikwad played two more matches after that and made just five runs against the Delhi Capitals at home on April 5 and just one run against the Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on April 8.
Chennai finished a disappointing last in IPL 2025, in one of their worst performances in 18 years.
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